Jos Verstappen

Jos Verstappen (4 March, 1972) is a Dutch Formula 1 driver.

He started karting at the age of 8, and was participating in (national) competitions not long after. In 1984 he became Dutch junior champion. He remained succesful, and won two European titles and a large number of international races in 1989.

At the end of 1991 he made the transition to car racing after . He drove in the Formula Opel Lotus, a class in which identical cars are raced. He immediately won the European championship, and got an offer to drive Formula 3. He made a big impression there as well, winning several international competitions, including the 1993 Marlboro Masters and the German Formula 3 championships.

1994 season

In 1994 he was hired as a testing and backup driver in the Benetton team. After a test crash by J.J. Lehto (who broke a neck vertebra) he drove in several races as a regular driver from the start of the season, beside Michael Schumacher. Verstappen made his debut in the Benetton Formula 1 team during the Grand Prix of Brazil. During the race he was torpedoed by Eddie Irvine during an overtake. Verstappen somersaulted, but emerged unharmed.

A high point in this season was Verstappen's 3rd place during the Grand Prix in Hungary. A curiosity was his accident during a training session for the GP of France in Magny-Cours, in which Verstappen rammed his car into the pits wall, causing debris to fly and destroy a TV installation. Owing to this accident, this equipment is protected from the race track by plexiglass in contemporary setups.

During a pitstop in the GP of Germany at the Hockenheimring, gasoline was spilled on heated car parts, setting the car with Verstappen in it ablaze for a brief period. As was usual at the time, the visor of his helmet was open, and he walked away with slight burn wounds to his nose. Since then, drivers keep their visors closed during refuels.

For the last two races, Verstappen was replaced by Johnny Herbert.

1995 and beyond

In 1995 he was placed at Simtek, but this team had financial troubles, and hasn't participated in a race since the Grand Prix of Monaco.

In 1996 he drove for the Arrows team, and though he drove well, engine troubles prevented him from making a splash on the stage. During the GP of Belgium a part of the suspension of Verstappen's car broke off, causing him to hit the railing hard. He ended up with a prolonged neck injury. If it had not been for the raised cockpit edges introduced that year, Verstappen might not have survived the accident.

In 1997 he went to the Tyrrell-Ford team, but didn't score. He was rehired with great pain in 1998, and was a test driver for the Benetton team, but the latter would not hire him as a permanent test driver for lack of sponsors.

In 2000 he obtained a seat with Arrows, a promising team. The promise wasn't made good on, though; the many technical problems plagued not only Verstappen but also his teammates Pedro de la Rosa and Enrique Bernoldi. The Arrows proved to be fast, but quite unreliable. Jos was ultimately put aside in favor of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

In 2003 Verstappen drove for European Minardi, a team which rarely scores points. He made an impression several times with the reliable but very slow Minardi, but left the Italian racing circuit because he didn't feel like driving in the rear guard for another year.